n 2010 the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) received research funding from the Scottish
Government to investigate the acoustic output from wave energy devices operating in a high energy
wave climate. This research will facilitate future studies into the effects of the acoustic output of
wave energy converter devices on cetaceans, sea mammals and seabirds.
The project involved assessment of available techniques and development of a methodology
appropriate to EMEC’s Billia Croo wave test site to enable acoustic data collection and analysis, and
subsequent use of the methodology to collect data from which an acoustic baseline description of
the test site can be formed. The production of this acoustic characterisation of the Billia Croo test
site will permit future comparison with data collected by developers testing devices at the EMEC
wave test site using the same methodology and equipment.
This document forms the final report to the Scottish Government and comprises four main sections
as detailed below, together with an Annex which describes how the methodology was used to
measure the acoustic output from an operational wave energy converter device deployed at the
Billia Croo test site. Section 1 provides a review of relevant background data, while Sections 2-4
provide details of the measurement methodology developed during the study to characterise noise
for operational noise assessment of wave energy converter systems.